Columbus carries MLS torch as Concacaf Champs League resumes

The Columbus Crew should at least have the advantage of some unseasonably warm weather as they kick off the quarterfinals of the Concacaf Champions League tonight at home to Mexican side Toluca.

Columbus is the lone MLS club left in the competition, but Howard over at the HexagonalBlog thinks it unlikely we will avoid an all-Mexican final four this year in the continent’s premier club tournament. There’s a couple of reasons for this, namely that the Mexican teams are flat out better than their Central American rivals, while Columbus is basically in pre-season mode as the tournament hits the business end of things.

At least the MLS avoids the potential embarrassment of having the Crew forfeit tonight’s game due to the labour dispute. Either way, MLS clubs don’t exactly have a stellar record in this tournament over the past decade, so it would be a pleasant surprise if the Crew win tonight to have any hope of progressing in Mexico.

It appears the Mexican media (ie. the two sports tabloids I scan crudely with Google Translate) are at least equally if not more preoccupied with the resumption tonight of the Copa Libertadores, where Mexican side Morelia is away to Ecuador’s Deportivo Cuenca in desperate need of a win to make it past the tournament’s group stage.